NY State: Open Data

March 11, 2013

 

Today Monday March 11,
NY State Governor Andrew Cuomo Launched 

Open.NY.gov

 

“Open.ny.gov creates unprecedented transparency across all levels of government and gives the people user-friendly access to vast quantities of information on our State,” Governor Cuomo said. “This new website will dramatically increase public access to one of our most valuable assets – data. As it expands and evolves over time, Open.ny.gov will spark innovation, improve efficiency, promote accountability, and bring the people back into government.”

The Governor today also issued an Executive Order directing state agencies to, for the first time, review and catalogue data that they collect and take steps to make public data available on the website. Data will be posted online in accordance with guidelines to be developed by the state Office of Information Technology Services (ITS), and the Executive Order directs ITS to consult with agencies and receive public input as those guidelines are finalized.”

Through a partnership with the federal government, thousands of federal data sets are also available at open.ny.gov alone or in combination with New York’s data. Similarly, New York’s data is searchable along with data from other states on the federal website data.gov.” 

“”New York State should be commended for its leadership in making government data more accessible, discoverable, and usable,” said Todd Park, U.S. Chief Technology Officer, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, who has been leading federal open government efforts. “Opening up government data will promote greater government efficiency and effectiveness, and will fuel a rising tide of private-sector entrepreneurship, innovation and discovery.”

Open.ny.gov builds on an open data pilot project recently conducted by the State Health Department. This pilot was supported by the agency’s open government initiative — the Maximizing Essential Tools for Research Innovation and eXcellence Project, or METRIX Project. The METRIX Project is designed to improve public access to DOH data assets and encourage innovation, participation, and collaboration among stakeholders with the purpose of developing targeted health care policies to improve the quality of New York’s health care system. Since the METRIX Project’s launch in August 2011, DOH has made valuable health data publically available online. This data is now featured on open.ny.gov, as well as on a new health site at health.data.ny.gov.”

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